The present invention relates to telescoping seating systems; and more particularly, it relates to improvements in telescoping seating systems wherein the seating is automatically raised to the use position when the rows are extended, and automatically lowered for storage between adjacent decks when the rows are retracted for storage.
Telescoping seating systems are well-known in the art, and generally include a plurality of rows, each row having wheeled carriages for movement along the floor of a gymnasium or auditorium, a frame or understructure including columns or posts extending vertically from the carriages to the height of a given row, and a deck mounted to the top of the understructure. The deck normally includes a riser beam secured to the top of the posts in the understructure and outwardly extending arms for mounting the platform or deck material.
Power systems are frequently used to move the telescoping rows between the use and storage positions, thereby affording a great convenience in converting the seating to different uses. One such power system is disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,285,172. Despite the convenience and labor savings provided by such power systems, a substantial amount of labor may nevertheless still be required to raise the seating from its storage position to the use position. This is particularly so, for example, in chair platform systems which provide individual chairs, as distinguished from bleacher type seating which may be fixed.
Individual chair type seating is preferred over bleacher type seating in terms of convenience and comfort for the individual occupant, but the need for manual labor to set up the chairs after the system is extended has been considered a disadvantage, particularly in large installations because it requires either a large number of laborers to raise the seating before use and to lower it after use, or a smaller number of laborers but a much longer time to effect conversion of the seating.
There have been attempts to provide individual chair-type seating which is raised and lowered automatically with the extension and retraction of the rows, one such system being disclosed in the co-owned Van Ryn, et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,392. Another automatic chair platform system and one which was available commercially is that disclosed in the co-owned Hartman U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,202. The system disclosed in the Van Ryn, et al patent includes chairs mounted to the forward portion of a deck wherein only the back of an individual chair is locked in the raised position, and although all of the chair backs on a given row are locked and unlocked in response to the actuation of a single tube, the tube is mounted beneath the deck and separate latching and unlatching mechanisms are required for the back of each individual chair. Thus, the system is somewhat complicated and expensive, and is not considered to be sufficiently reliable for commercial introduction. Further, the height of the seat above the platform varies with the rise of the system; amd a given row is moved toward the storage position (beneath the next higher row) before the seat backs on that row are unlocked.
The system disclosed in the Hartman U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,202 overcomes the problem of changing the height of the seat above the platform as the rise of the system varies by mounting individual chairs to a frame and attaching the bottom of the frame to the rear of the platform. However, each gang of chairs is locked in place by at least two locking members, the tops of which are engaged by the nose portion of the next higher row when a given row is retracted. Typically, such systems are offered with a variation in rise ranging from 10"-16". Because the seating frame slants rearwardly toward the nose of the next higher row, as the rise of a system increases, the distance between the nose and seating frame decreases, and the inherent tolerances in the system would, under certain conditions, permit one locking member to be released, but the other to remain locked, thereby permitting the nose of the next higher row to bind against the seating frame. This is particularly true if for any reason two adjacent rows are not parallel to one another, with the problem aggravated, as mentioned, in systems having a greater rise.
Thus, a principal object of the present invention is to provide automatic seating in a telescopic system which tolerates a certain amount of "out of parallel" motion of adjacent rows.
According to the present invention, each row is equipped with chair-type seating, preferably with a plurality of chairs mounted on a common frame. The frame is attached to the rear of a deck of a row for pivoting between a raised or use position and lowered or storage position in which the seating is stored in the space between the decks of adjacent rows.
A latch mechanism for locking the seating frame in the raised position when a row is extended for use includes a drive rod, preferably having an hexagonal cross-section, extending along the rear of the deck, and mounted above the platform or deck material.
The drive rod is mounted for rotation in one direction in which latch members carried by the drive rod are positioned to engage the seating frame and lock it in the raised or use position. If the drive rod is rotated in a counter direction, the seating is unlocked and prepared to be lowered for storage. The weight of the seating may be counter-balanced by torsion rods or other counter balancing mechanism, as disclosed in the Hartman patent identified above.
The drive rod is located at the rear of a deck and is mounted above the footrest or sheet material. The rod is provided with two or more actuator arms which extend below the deck and are engaged and actuated by the retracting motion of the next lower row. Thus, the seating on a given row is unlocked before that row begins its retraction cycle. Preferably, the actuator arms are not engaged until the next lower deck has substantially completed its retraction motion, and this results in an upper row lock system, forcing the rows to retract in the desired sequence of having the lowest extended row retract before all others, as more fully described presently. It is considered to be another feature of this invention that if any one actuator arm is actuated by the rearward motion of the next lower deck, then the drive rod is rotated in its counter direction and all of the seating on that row is unlocked simultaneously. This is in contrast to the mechanism disclosed in the Hartman patent wherein all of the independent latches must be disengaged before the seating can be lowered, with the disengaging action effected by the retraction motion, not of the next lower row, but of the very row on which the seating to be lowered is mounted. In contrast, the present invention is characterized in that the seating of one row is unlocked by the retraction motion of the next lower row, with unlocking accomplished by actuating any one of a number of actuators before that particular row has even begun its retraction motion. This forces the rows to close or retract in such a manner that the lower row retracts first. The present invention thus provides a system of row locks, as mentioned, locking the upper rows in an extended position until the next lower row retracts. The rows are thus retracted in the desired sequence with all the seats in a given row (or group) unlocked simultaneously and responsive to the next lower row's being displaced rearwardly during a retraction cycle.
The drive rod is spring-biased to rotate in the locking direction which actuates the latch mechanism to engage the seat frame when a row is extended to lock the seating in a positive manner, as distinguished from relying on gravity, for example. Thus, counter-rotation of the drive rod by retraction of the next lower row works against the bias of the spring, but spring biasing the drive rod toward the locking position is considered advantageous in effecting a positive latching function.